The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that Israeli forces had acted against several threats to troops and ceasefire violations in the Gaza Strip.
Soldiers fired warning shots to distance approaching individuals in several locations, according to the military. In one incident in northern Gaza, troops neutralized a suspicious individual who failed to withdraw after warning shots were fired.
In central Gaza, an IDF drone carried out a warning strike to deter uninspected vehicles moving northward in a restricted area in violation of the agreement.
The IDF reiterated its commitment to upholding the terms of the Jan. 19 agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization. However, it emphasized the military’s readiness for all scenarios and intent to counter any immediate threats to Israeli forces. Gaza residents were urged to heed IDF announcements and avoid approaching military forces.
On Monday, tens of thousands of Gazans crossed into the northern part of the Gaza Strip after the IDF partially withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor in the central Strip.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Gazans were allowed to pass through the corridor on foot without undergoing security checks.
Vehicles were also allowed to return northward starting at 9 a.m., subject to inspection by an international consortium of security companies.
The ceasefire ended 15 months of war initiated by the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed and another 251 kidnapped to Gaza.
Knesset member Moshe Roth, a lawmaker for the coalition United Torah Judaism Party, told JNS on Tuesday, “It is very hard to have a clear-cut agreement with Hamas.” He added, “People in the West cannot fathom the evil of a terror enterprise to whom human life means nothing.”
Hamas, he said, “has killed more Arabs than anyone else in the area, aside from maybe [former Syrian dictator] Bashar Assad. To them, killing Jews is considered a straight path to paradise. To Hamas, if, God forbid, a child dies in Gaza, it’s a strategic win. Their goal is not to provide a decent life for Palestinians; it’s to terrorize.”
According to Roth, the terror group will do everything to show defiance, which could lead to the ceasefire eventually collapsing.
“They take babies hostage, use humans to shield themselves from bombs—this is devastating to its own people. There are too many points and too many variables that could make this agreement void at any moment. I am not optimistic. The only way it will be completed is through a miracle,” he concluded.
